I Can't Do It!

I can’t do it. I thought I could but I can’t. The rational side of my brain tells me, “It would be much more prudent to wait”. I embraced that rationality and listened to my logical voice for a while. I thought I’d put it to rest. I thought I could just be patient, gain more experience, build more endurance. But I can’t do it. I can’t wait until 2008 to complete an Ironman. I have to sign up and go the distance in 2007.

There have been very few things in my life that have gnawed at me like this without me being able to put them to rest. I was thinking about Ironman before I did my first sprint race over a year ago. I was thinking about Ironman when I did my first century ride. I was thinking about Ironman when I did Gulf Coast Half Ironman this Spring. And I’m still thinking about it, even more.

So….even though I posted a while back that I was resolved to wait until 2008, I’ll be signing up for Ironman Florida 2007 in November.

Back In The Saddle

Back on the bike yesterday afternoon for an easy 33 miler. It was the first workout I’ve done since Saturday. Me and a riding buddy let the fast group go and kept the pace reasonable. I was tired and had no energy at the beginning, but felt better as we went and felt great by the end. I think the effects of the sinus infection are finally gone after two weeks.

When we got back to the bike shop we found out another local cyclist had crashed on the same route we’d just ridden. No one knew many details but it sounded pretty bad. Found out today that the guy is in ICU. He broke five ribs, fractured his collar bone in two places, collapsed a lung, and had to have stitches in his head. He apparently got into the rear wheel of the rider in front of him. He was on a brand new Madone he’d had for two days. The bike is reported to be ok, but he’ll be out of the saddle for quite a while.
I appreciate solo rides more every day.

Week In Review

Last Monday found me feeling like crap with a cold setting in. Tuesday brought more of the same. By Wednesday the cold had worsened to the point that I decided to go see my doctor. Turned out I had a wicked sinus infection, complete with fever that I didn’t know I had. He sent me home with antibiotics, decongestant/cough medicine and a steroid (which I didn’t take…the side effect sheet freaked me out too much). I stayed home from work Wednesday and Thursday. I hadn’t trained since Saturday and decided to do a short slow 30 minute run on the treadmill Wednesday afternoon, just to see how I’d feel. It wasn’t pretty or pleasant, but I did ok and decided if I didn’t feel any worse when Saturday rolled around, I’d go ahead with the race. I felt a bit better Thursday morning and did a 30 minute spin on the trainer. Later I did a 20 minute swim. I had zero zip during either workout, but I knew I’d be able to do the race. I went back to work Friday, took it easy all day and did no workouts.

The alarm went off at 5:30am Saturday morning and I felt surprisingly good compared to the previous few days. After breakfast, I loaded up my gear and made the 45 minute drive to the race site. I checked in, got my race packet and readied my transition area. The great thing about local races is seeing all the familiar faces and catching up with everyone. Before I knew it they were calling us down to the lake for the pre-race meeting. Soon the horn sounded and the race was under way. I completed the quarter mile swim almost 3 minutes slower than the previous year. The course was obviously longer than last year because all the swim times were slower than the previous year. T1 went smoothly and I exited feeling good. I went as hard as I could on the 13.6 mile bike course and entered T2 feeling a little less than fresh. I knew the week of being sick was beginning to be a factor when I exited T2. I’ve never felt so bad starting a run. I had nothing….NOTHING. The first mile was an effort to just keep running. I finally started feeling like I could push the pace a bit after the first mile. I increased my pace over the second mile and just tried to maintain during the remainder. I was very glad to cross the finish line. I was extremely thirsty and devoured two bottles of water immediately after crossing the line. I was just glad to be done and have another race under my belt. That first mile of the run will be a mental time capsule I’ll tuck away and be able to call on when things go bad in future races. As usual, I forgot to hit the stop button on my watch when I crossed the line, so I hung around for the results to be posted. I knew I was about a minute slower than the previous year, so I had no expectations of placing any higher than the middle of the pack. Half an hour later the results were posted and I was amazed to see I’d placed 3rd out of 17 in my age group and 34th out of 185 overall. My times were: Swim - 9:17 (1.6), T1 - 00:44, Bike - 38:06 (21.4mph), T2 - 00:41, Run – 25:05 (8:06), Overall time – 1:13:52. I headed home after getting my award knowing I’d performed much better than I’d expected…even if the run did suck.

The most exciting event of the week…. actually maybe the year…. was after many attempts, my daughter finally rode her bike unassisted without training-wheels for the first time yesterday morning. As we sat out on the patio having breakfast, I noticed her bike sitting there and had the urge to take the training wheels off and let her have another go at riding. Soon I had the training wheels removed and we started the wobbly process. I quickly noticed her balance was way better than it’d ever been. Within 10 minutes she was covering 10 yards on her own, then 15, then 20. Her enthusiasm was off the charts and I was covered in sweat from running along beside her the whole time. After a short breather, we headed out in the alley where she rode from one end to the other. After another 15 minutes she had it down. It was awesome to watch.

And speaking of bikes I finally got around to snapping a few shots of my new ride.









My tri season is pretty much over for this year. There’s one more Olympic distance race I’m considering, but it’s not a definite. I have a metric ride with friends next weekend and I’m really looking forward to it. I have several fall running races scheduled and I’ll begin training for those soon. I’ll probably take it easy the next couple of days and let my body fully recover from the cold before ramping the volume back up.

!!Cold!!

Not the brrrrr kind of cold, but the stuffy head kind of cold. $hi#!!! I don't do sick well.
I think something in my biochemical structure wakes up the week before a race and commands my immune system to open the door just a bit to let in a few stray germs. It started Thursday with itchy eyes and has progressed to sinus congestion today.
I have a sprint race coming up Saturday. No biggie. But it's our local race and I'd like to do well.
In spite of the cold, I had an awesome ride Saturday with the club and took a monster pull at the end to bring us home. Workouts have gone great lately. Hopefully the cold will pass quickly and I'll be able to do my best come Saturday.

!!Heat!!

It's HOT!
Not just you're typical "Man it's hot out there" kinda hot.
It's more in the category of, "If I'm not back in an hour, come looking for me" kind of hot.
On top of temperatures spiking at 100 degrees or more at times, here in Georgia we have suffocating humidity to go along with it. Add the high temps with the high humidity and you've got a speed killing, dehydrating, dangerous combination.
I did a hard 6 miler in such conditions yesterday afternoon. My heart rate was at least 15 beats higher than it normally would have been.
My fuel belt is my best friend this time of year. Even with plenty of liquids, it's still tough going in this heat.
I think I may start doing runs lasting longer than an hour at night.

Anyone needing heat training for kona....come on down. We've got it.
Be careful out there, playing with fire may get you burned.